Is There A Doctor In The Kennel?

Kindly, fellow “City Brights” blogger Dr. Jan Gurley has invited me to add my own two cents worth to an odd and interesting question she received from one of her readers. Please check out her blog today for the complete Q and her original A, but the essence of the tale is this: a patient isn’t too thrilled by a visit to the doctor which includes the physician’s dogs wandering around the exam room peeing on the floor. (The writer, who signs herself “Peed-Off”, makes a point of noting that the dogs are not therapy or assistance animals. Just the doc’s pet dogs, and apparently not necessarily the best mannered dogs at that.) The good Doctor Gurley has the take on this from the physician’s point of view, and now I get a shot at it from the humaniac’s perspective.

(But first let me just say how very cool it is to be on the receiving end of a referral from a doctor. Take two bowls of kibble and call me in the morning! My mother would have been so proud.)

While my critters stay at home when I come to work, many of my Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA coworkers do bring their companion animals to work with them. (I share my office with a blue tongue skink, Alex the Wonder Lizard, but that’s a topic for another post.) Taking your dog to work is one of the perks of working here, and all of our offices have those divided “Dutch doors” so that you can keep the potentially wandering pup inside with the bottom of the door closed, but allow for conviviality and easy conversation among coworkers with the top of the door open. You’ll see staffs’ animals behind our counters as well, and some of our humane officers may at times have their own critters along for the ride.

This of course makes sense here in this over-the-top-animal-friendly environment but even here there are rules in place, along with the basic rules of common sense and courtesy, to make sure all the people and other animals feel safe and comfortable. An employee here who abuses those rules — say, an employee whose dog regularly pees on the floor, or snaps at visitors, or growls at other dogs — will be asked to let their dog sleep on the couch at home tomorrow.

I’ve loved visiting with cats in lawyer’s offices, dogs in bookstores, fishtanks in so many office waiting rooms they seem as ubiquitous as the faux leather chairs, and a squawking parrot at an art gallery. Plus, I’ve always thought B of A ought to take advantage of its initials and house pet BOAs in their lobbies, perhaps a reminder of the squeeze many of us now feel from our financial institutions. But what do I think about a doctor bringing her or his dog into the exam room?

I instantly think about the potential interface between (a) a cold, wet nose and (b) the flapping open back of those flimsy paper ensembles the docs make us wear! Not a comfortable image, no not at all. (And hey, Doctor Gurley, with all the modern advances and stuff, can’t medical science come up with a better patient wardrobe than that?)

If I am ok with one of my cats drinking from my cereal bowl as I spoon out the Cheerios, that’s my quirk. I wouldn’t be thrilled, however, to find cats on the counter of my favorite breakfast hangout. And if I need a hug from my dogs when I come home from the doctor’s visit (hopefully to help me through no greater trauma than the news that, yes, I still need to lose the same 10 pounds), I still don’t necessarily want your dog breathing on the stethoscope to warm it up before it hits my chest.

I have few boundaries with my own animals, it’s true. I French kiss with my dogs, my cats often wake me by climbing on top of my head, and the whole pack of them can be found licking my legs when I’m fresh from the shower standing at the sink shaving in the morning. But those are my own wonderfully gross choices with my four-legged family in my own home.

To the offending doctor, here’s my advice: Get a Dutch door to your office. Chances are there are quite a few patients who might, if given the choice, like to visit before and after the physical exam.